Customers

Can you sell something you don’t believe in?

Leave a Comment / Sales, Small Business, Tips / By / / , , , , , , , , , ,

Imagine you got each of the emails below from someone you know who wants to sell you something.

  1. [FIRSTNAME] OMG, you have GOT to go to this website RIGHT NOW and buy this WIDGET – it’s AMAZING and it will change your life. Truly, it’s that great – I grabbed one for myself and just emailed my entire family to place an order before they sell out.
  2. Em, hi [FIRSTNAME] – my company sells widgets that are better than the widgets you already have. They work really well. Go to our website to place your order.

Which “sales pitch” sounds more convincing?

Unless you are some type of alien being, my guess is you chose #1.

The Sell – It’s about Passion and Serving

 #1 gets the hands-down FOR THE WIN because the person trying to \”sell\” you something isn’t selling at all.  She 100% believes in the product, but more importantly her “sales pitch” was more about helping her friends and family have the same awesomesauce experience she had.

#2 Is probably more the classic salesperson who simply isn’t confident in the product. They are just looking to sell the damn product and try to make a buck.

Without belief – the sell is a lie.

 If you are a salesperson who is struggling – step back and look at the product and/or service you are trying to sell.  What is your belief scale?

  1. You need to believe in the product
  2. You need to believe in yourself
  3. You need to believe that you yourself would use the product and would 100% feel comfortable telling your closest friends and family to use it.

If all 3 don’t apply – you need to up your belief level or quit.  It’s that simple.

Customers can smell BS from a mile away

Let’s cut to the chase and be honest. We’ve all been pitched by the snake oil salesperson – haven’t we?  The robodialers who just get on the phone and dial for dollars – they don’t even know what they hell they are selling.  Or how about the owner\’s daughter who was pushed into a sales role and doesn’t want to be there, doesn’t give two craps about the product, and here you are on the other end expected to buy from them.

So if you wouldn’t buy from the snake oil person, don’t be a snake oil person.  What is snake oil anyway?

Going back to the beginning of this article and example #1.  True sincerity doesn’t need any fancy marketing materials or even a sales pitch – it speaks for itself.

I guess that’s all that needs to be said on the subject of can you sell something you don\’t believe in.  Believe to Achieve.

Can you sell something you don’t believe in? Read More »

improve sales

Improve your sales skills even if you aren’t in sales

Leave a Comment / Entrepreneur, Featured, Must Read Blogs, Sales, Small Business, Tips / By / / , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sales, regardless if you are an actual salesperson or not, is just part of life and your career. Sales doesn’t always mean selling a product or service to a customer, in fact, you are probably giving sales pitches just about every day. That’s right, every time you pitch an idea, make a suggestion, or even go on a job interview, you are “pitching” yourself. So how can you improve your sales skills if you don’t pitch people often?

First off, selling kinda has a bad rap. You typically think of a sleazy used car salesperson, telemarketer, or door to door salesperson. But if you think about it, sales is really the most fundamental life skill. People think sales is pushing someone to buy something they don’t need, want, or can afford. But really, sales is moving someone to take action. And if you think about everything you did today, I’d bet quite a few of your actions involved selling. Am I right?

People are often uncomfortable with sales because they 1. Don’t understand it and 2. Can’t get past the used car salesman cliché. Selling is all about persuading, inspiring, and leading. It’s about collaboration and driving change. The best salespeople make you feel like the sale was your idea. Why? Because you trusted them, they had a genuine interest in your problem, they provided a solution that they knew would fix your problem. You wanted to buy from them.

People often buy for 2 reasons, to gain pleasure or avoid pain. Your job is to figure out which one it is. Sales really is about networking and listening to your customers. Find out who the decision-makers are, learn as much about them ahead of time as you can. When you talk to them take an empathic approach, one that focuses on understanding the other person and what they need. Serve, not sell.

What do the best salespeople have in common? They plan and practice. You wouldn’t show up to a golf tournament and expect to win having never swung a golf club in your life, right? The best in the biz have mentors and coaches who help them practice and make sure their conversation flows – they help them improve their delivery. Practice on friends, peers, coworkers, family, etc. until you get your pitch just right.

Making your “pitch” can be very nerve-wracking at times, but even with all that adrenaline flowing, it’s important to stay calm and not ramble. People don’t want to listen to someone drone on and on about how great something is. Selling should be a conversation, not a lecture.

A good salesperson knows when to fold ‘em and when to walk away. Yes, the late, great Kenny Rogers knew what he was talking about. Most salespeople hear no at least a few times before they make a sale, but they know when to press on, because that no is really a “not yet”, and when to throw in the towel. They are flexible and understand the path that their customer has to take in order to move forward.

Sales is a numbers game – it’s highly possible you will fail more than you succeed. However, it’s important that you don’t quit. You need courage and to always remember the long game. Sales is never rarely a one and done deal, and most times it’s actually not about you. If a customer is happy where they, they won’t get pleasure from buying and aren’t experiencing pain, then now is not the time. Check back in 3 months.

Have any great sales advice to add, we’d love to hear it! We also wrote a blog on increasing sales without a sales team, check it out.

Improve your sales skills even if you aren’t in sales Read More »

Copy-Competition

Why you should STOP copying your competition

Leave a Comment / Featured, Marketing, Small Business, Tips / By / / , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The old saying goes “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”, but when it comes to your marketing, it’s just NOT a good idea. For centuries, we’ve been using other’s ideas, creative, and art as inspiration for our own work – and that’s fine if it’s used to spark ideas of your own. BUT if you are just copying every move your competitors are making, you are just setting yourself up for failure.

At Red Barn, we love a good life hack or a process or software that helps us save time and energy, but when it comes to copying competitor’s content – we draw the line. Copying other’s content is a big no-no because it can actually hurt your marketing strategy and your business. Let’s go back to why you started your business, because you wanted it to be uniquely yours including your content. Here’s several reasons why copying your competition is just a recipe for disaster.

  1. They don’t know what they are doing either. Just because your competitor has interesting and flashy creative it doesn’t mean that it’s actually working. Unless you have access to their analytics to confirm, you could be making the same bad mistakes as your competition. Also, your competition could be just as clueless as you AND they also could be copying another competitor – and now it’s an endless cycle! No matter how good the creative seems, there is simply no guarantee it will work for you.
  2. You might have a different target audience. Every business has their own Target Client Profile – or target audiences. Your competition may actually be targeting a difference audience than you, and an audience that you have no intention of targeting. You and your competitors each have your own unique strategy in regard to targeting your audience, without knowing the thought and reasoning behind the marketing, you simply won’t know if that creative is appropriate for your audience.
  3. It doesn’t set you apart. Customers aren’t dumb, they will recognize if you are doing copycat marketing. Not only are you showing them that your business lacks creativity and is unable to promote your business in your own unique way, but by copying others you’re also not getting valuable data. You need to see what works and what doesn’t for your business and use your own data to adjust your marketing accordingly. Your marketing should be authentic and original to you and your business – that’s why your customers want to work with you – because of who you are.
  4. You’re limiting yourself and your marketing. Not only are you limiting your creative ability to target your prospective clients, but your creative won’t be nearly as effective as your competition because you won’t know exactly how to execute it like they do. If you have someone who does your marketing, you’ll also be limiting them and their creative ideas and expertise and producing great creative in the future.
  5. You are confusing your customers. You are not giving your business its own unique brand and identity. You’ll also confuse potential customers, as they will see the same style and messaging of creative from both you and your competitor.
  6. You don’t have the same budget or resources. Even though you have an idea of what your competition is doing, there may be a lot of software, staff, budget, or even a marketing company behind the scenes that are all working together.

Your competition’s content and marketing strategy may seem easy and obvious to you from the outside, but it could be very complex with a lot of systems running on the inside. The best content is fresh and new and also is optimized. You can’t emulate and replicate a company that has a full-time in-house content marketing team, in addition to external agencies or consultants, who also help with their content marketing when you are a small business on limited resources. It’s just not feasible.

What you should do instead of copying your competitors

  1. Determine your goals – create your own marketing strategy that will outline your own content creation, paid search, email, social media, SEO, social media, and design (digital and print). You should have a focus and target client for each of these channels. Some of your goals for social media may include increasing engagement on Facebook, driving more repeat traffic to your website, etc. Having your own goals and strategy will allow you to stick to your own plan and not follow your competition – which could conflict with your goals.
  2. Start using the right tools and people. To be efficient and productive you need to use the right tools. If you need to segment your email lists, then use an email marketing software that makes it easy. If you want to schedule social media out in advance, use a tool that lets you do that. And make sure you have the right people doing the right things. Don’t use staff who hate writing and have poor grammar to write your blogs. Use the best people for the job to create and execute your content marketing strategy – this could be an outside firm too if it’s something that can’t be managed in house. Learn to delegate when needed or when it makes sense.
  3. Do your research and don’t stop reviewing metrics. If you do your research right, you should be able understand some of the reasons why and how your competitors are doing what they are doing. You’ll also want to track your own metrics and adjust your marketing accordingly. Less traffic on LinkedIn and more on Facebook – boost your Facebook posts to capitalize. More email opens with specific topics or subject lines – adjust and implement more like those. You can also subscribe to email newsletters of your competitors so you can see what they are doing, how they onboard new subscribers, what their subject lines are, etc. You shouldn’t copy, but it’s a good idea to know what they are up to.

Don’t underestimate the damage that copying your competitor’s creative can cause when it comes to your marketing efforts. If you have questions or need some advice, give us call or send us an email. We love talking about this stuff!

Why you should STOP copying your competition Read More »

authenticity

Marketing 101 – Why Authenticity wins the game every time

Leave a Comment / Culture, Entrepreneur, Fun Stuff, Marketing, Must Read Blogs, Small Business / By / / , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Whether you are offering a service or selling a product, at the end of the day your buyers don’t want to be “marketed to”, they don’t want to be told what they should buy.  What they want is an emotional relationship that makes them feel good about the decisions they are making.

If you want to create brand evangelists versus just transactional “buyers” the one thing you need to rock is…

AUTHENTICITY

How does one be “Authentic” in a world of crazy chaos and “fake news” – how can you show your prospective customers the real you?  And yes, you do need to show them the real you – the real authentic you.

Here are my rules of engagement.

  1. Your personal brand is NOT different than your professional brand. I am not a “formal conservative person”, therefore my company website is fun and loud, my bio is very conversational on my website – and I am an open book on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.  Love me or hate me – I am who I am.  I attract clients who match my vibe, who understand me and well…. like me!
  2. Educate. Educate. Give your customers something that means something to them.  Give them what they want, not what you think they need.  Well, most of the time.  80% of your content should be what your customers will want to read, something they will find value in.  In many cases, your customers may not know they have a problem until you enlighten them – that’s when the 20% comes in. That’s when you identify the pain and show your solution.  Once you show that you understand them, and you have given them something of value over and over again – they will consider buying from you.
  3. Talk to them!  The best content is conversational.  Use email campaigns to “talk” with your prospects and customers, use video, chatbots.  And yes, even have IRL (in real life) conversations with them.  Remember – this isn’t about selling, it’s about showing the real you, and connecting with them on an emotional level.
  4. Know what you and your Brand stand for. So many people shy away from taking a social stand – I don’t – at all. If someone doesn’t agree with the fact that I’m a liberal that’s ok.  I’m not for everyone.  What do you stand for?  What does your brand stand for?  WHY are you in business – and why does it matter to your clients and prospects?  Being transparent is critical.  Be raw, be open and share personal stories.
  5. The Sword is mighty. If you or your brand makes a mistake – and it’s tossed out on social media, address it publicly.  Apologize and make it right.  Be respectful.  You will be amazed how you can turn an angry prospect or client into a brand evangelist.  Validate their pain – because it is REAL.  Take it offline to work out the details.  This holds true for any unhappy customer – remember this is focused on emotions.  Put yourself in their shoes – how would you feel?  More importantly, how would you like to be treated?  Yes, the Golden rule applies here.

I, like many business owners, was afraid to show my true colors until I said screw it, tossed the marketing 101 old school shit in the garbage and just went for it.  The result was magical.  I no longer work with clients that I don’t like, that don’t appreciate me, and that don’t – well, mesh with my brand.  I also have a sense of freedom around my brand.  The funny thing is, I’m raw, I’m open, I tend to swear just a little bit in my copy and so many of my loyal tribe are what you would deem conservative – in that they have c-level jobs in conservative industries.

One day we won’t have to say – Don’t judge a book by its cover – because the cover will be who the people really are.  Times are changing in corporate America and I LOVE IT.

If you want to see more of the real me – sign up for my Thursday morning missives – they are 100% raw, authentic and transparent Cindy.  They come out weekly – on Thursdays at 6 am.  To be honest – it’s my journal that I share with the world.  No secrets.  Just me.

Cindy

PS – one of the #1 ways I get new clients is from that Thursday email – and I rarely talk about Marketing, Sales or Biz Ops.  Go figure!

Marketing 101 – Why Authenticity wins the game every time Read More »

The Gentle Art of Insurance Referral Marketing

Leave a Comment / Insurance, Marketing, Uncategorized / By / / , , , , , , , , ,

There’s a powerful force we instinctively use every day when we make decisions. It’s a force that business marketers want to tap into, because it can create powerful, profound results — And it’s a force you can take advantage of when it comes to selling insurance.

What is that force? One simple word — Trust.

More specifically, building trust by having people recommend your insurance products and services to others. The fancy-schmancy marketing term for this is “Customer advocate led referral marketing” but that’s entirely too much of a mouthful. What you need to know is that encouraging and incentivizing your insurance clients to refer their friends, family, and associates can get you plenty of new business, stat.

So, how do you go about doing just that? Glad you asked…

Learn about your existing customers. The first thing you need to do is to find out all about your existing customers — Who they are, what they do, the things they care about, what they need insurance for, and the lines of business they have with you.

Although you’re aiming to build an emotion (trust), ironically, it’s from cold, hard data you’ll be able to find the people who will speak up for you. Once you know who they are, you can start communicating with and incentivizing them.

Look for long-time clients, those who you solved a messy claims issue for – The ones who drank your proverbial Kool-Aid. They’re the ones who love you and wouldn’t dream of going elsewhere unless the zombie apocalypse forced them to (and even then, who doesn’t need insurance against zombie attacks?)

Provide truly exceptional customer experiences. Trust starts by making your insurance clients feel great — That means providing them with fantastic customer service, getting a deep understanding of their needs, speaking to them as individuals, and having a personal touch.

Maybe that’s sending them a card during the festive season or on their birthday, perhaps it’s notifying them about new insurance options that would give them better coverage or save them money. Essentially, anything that adds value is going to give them the warm fuzzies. And warm fuzzies equal glowing referrals.

Incentivizing your customers. We are all busy people! In the cold, hard world of business, that means you often have to provide strong incentives for people to recommend and refer their friends and family. Now, those incentives are often cash rewards or money off, but you can also offer vouchers and coupons, entry into competitions, specialized insurance, or other unique opportunities.

Sadly, people aren’t going to refer just because they really, really like you (although that definitely helps) — You have to give them a little extra. Big tip here – check with your State Insurance Department on the rules and regulations for your state regarding any type of incentive program. Often you can provide referrals but it can’t be contingent on the sale. So regardless, if there is a sale, the incentive must be rewarded.

Make it easy for them to make a referral. In marketing, friction (making something harder for someone) is always a bad thing. That means if you want to get insurance referrals, you have to make it easy-peasy. How you do that depends on how you want people to refer.

If they’re doing it through social media or email, have a unique referral link they can send to friends. If it’s going to be over the phone, have a special number they can call. Doing it via an online form? Have a specific section where they can enter referrer details. The art here is to not make your customer or prospective customer think too much.

Say Thank You. Lastly, always personally follow up with the people who made a referral and thank them. This is important, not just because they made the effort (and people like to know they’re appreciated) but because it creates positive reinforcement. In other words, the more you thank people, the more positive they’ll feel about your insurance business, and the more they’ll recommend you.

The Gentle Art of Insurance Referral Marketing Read More »

Insurance Providers + LinkedIn = New Customers

Leave a Comment / Insurance, Sales, Uncategorized / By / / , , , , , , , , ,

It’s time to learn to love LinkedIn (again). We know it might have been a while — You signed up once because you thought it’d be a good idea. Occasionally you get an email people are looking at your profile. Perhaps you’re subscribed to a few groups. You get notified about new insurance jobs or industry people who want to connect with you.

But you never sign back in — Who has the time? You need to service the insurance customers you\’ve got now, right? Well, yes. But that doesn’t mean you should dismiss LinkedIn out of hand. Here’s the thing — Used well, it’s an incredible way to get new customers, grow your insurance business, and get noticed. And who doesn’t want that? Certainly not you, and certainly not us.

So, deep breath, head over to LinkedIn, and learn how it can help your business thrive.

Connecting with potential customers on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is the largest network of professionals and business people in the world. And you know what all professionals and business people need? Yep. Insurance. Whether it’s business and professional liability, property, product, or personal coverage, they are your marketplace. You can use this to your advantage. It’s really not that hard – Trust us – Here’s how it works:

  • Update your LinkedIn profile — The five-year-old picture of you with the cheesy grin probably isn’t going to cut it. Go professional, and create a compelling profile to match. Tell your story, don’t just list your resume highlights. Why should someone buy their insurance from you? What’s your Secret Sauce?
  • Look at your Prospect List — Are you connected with any of them? Probably not, and that’s ok – We will get there! Now, see if any of your connections are connected with any of your prospects. Ask for introductions.
  • Make new connections within your tribe — Connect with other insurance professionals, people you used to work with, and other LinkedIn members. Stay on top of industry news and see what other folks are doing.
  • Join relevant groups — Where are your prospects hanging out?
  • Once you’re connected, develop relationships — Don’t try to push the sale – Build relationships, offer advice, have conversations. Wait for opportunistic moments to talk about your expertise
  • Move towards a sale — When the time is right, offer your guidance and ask prospects to view their insurance portfolio. The sale will happen if you’ve built up some trust.

Becoming an expert in your field. Something else LinkedIn allows you to do? Demonstrate your expertise. No, we’re not thinking about your talent at creating origami swans, or that time you replaced a carburetor without a manual, we’re talking about your insurance business acumen. There are several ways to share your expertise and build authority.

Writing on LinkedIn Pulse. LinkedIn Pulse is LinkedIn’s blog platform. Think of it as a place to create and write insightful, interesting articles and publish them to a wide audience. There are dozens of questions people have about insurance, but don’t know who to ask. You can create posts about those subjects, answer questions, and provide awesome advice.

If these posts do well, they’ll show up in other people’s LinkedIn feeds, LinkedIn search, and maybe even on Google. As the author of these pearls of wisdom, people will look at your profile, see where you work and… Well, you fill in the rest.

Participating in LinkedIn groups. While it’s true that many LinkedIn groups are nothing more than awful, awful spam factories, there are still some good ones out there. Once you’ve found a good group you can respond to questions about insurance and help people out with their insurance issues. Again, this builds your authority as an expert. The next time those people are looking to renew their policy, guess where they’ll turn? Right.

So, you can see, LinkedIn can be a great way to expand your reach and find new customers. Don’t consign LinkedIn to be somewhere you’ll visit “when you have the time.” Rekindle your LinkedIn relationship today, and turn it into a beautiful friendship.

Insurance Providers + LinkedIn = New Customers Read More »

How to Get New Bank Customers with Beautiful Content like Blogging

Leave a Comment / Finance, Marketing, Must Read Blogs, Uncategorized / By / / , , , , , , , , , , , ,

We all know that switching to a new bank can be…well, painful. The more accounts you have, and the more you automate the banking experience, the higher your retention rate. That’s great for your existing customers, but it doesn’t help when it comes to attracting new people to your business.

Most banks offer similar products and services, so creating a unique value proposition isn’t easy. What’s the secret sauce? How do some banks increase their retail numbers without putting lots of pressure on their service teams?

It’s all about telling a story and making it personal. Your customers and prospects want to feel like you’re speaking to them, that you “get them.” It all comes from your content – Understanding what you write and where you publish it are important, knowing WHO you are writing for is critical.

Let’s dive a little deeper…

Know your Target Client Profile (TCP) – What’s the demographic of your current customer base? Who are the potential customers you want to add? Where do they live? What is their socioeconomic background? Are they business customers? Retail? It’s critical to have a deep understanding of exactly who you want to reach – Their interests, aspirations, lifestyle choices, financial understanding and more.

Think like your TCP – Your content needs to be relevant to your TCP. What is most important to them? What’s going to grab their attention? How will it help? Will it answer their questions? Does it provide genuinely useful information? What will they read? How will they read it? When will they read it? A 20-year-old and an 80-year-old are going to have very different needs and ways of accessing content.

Create great thought leadership and product content – Thought leadership content is where your customers will get the most value. It’s about giving them insight, valuable information, and resources to help them understand and manage money better. When you combine that with information on your products and their benefits, you create a solid content strategy.

Share short, sweet, accessible, and relevant product information on your website – Your website is the place for your product information – make is easy to find and mobile friendly. Your bank’s website should also highlight your staff with pictures and bios. It helps your customers to relate to you, and people buy from others they know, like, and trust.

Blogging is the Grand Poohbah of content – Every bank should have a blog – It’s where your thought leadership and awesome content lives It’s where your staff can shine, and it’s what you will share on social media.

Keys to Blogging Success

  1. PLAN – Have an editorial calendar based on your TCP and your value proposition – Who are you going to write for, and what are your going to write about? Create five or six content areas where that you’ll develop. They might be: Your culture and team – Stories about your employees, what makes them tick, and what they bring to your business. Retail customer information – Speaking to your retail customers directly about the things that matter to them. Retirement planning, mortgages, insurance, loans, real estate, the economy, tips for protecting your home in winter, safety, etc. Financial education and guides – Creating guides, checklists, tools, and resources to help you customers get the most out of their money. Business customer information – Talking to business owners about what matters to them including business bank accounts, small business financing, insurance, etc. Community – The work you’re doing in the local community including sponsorship and other activities. Financial news – Talking about the economy, the stock market, and other interesting areas.
  2. SHARE – Build your brand and expand it through stories. The more people who see your name and your team, the quicker they will connect.
  3. CONNECT – People leave banks because they don’t feel the love. Intriguing content that speaks to them helps them feel connected, which makes them more likely to switch.
  4. REPEAT – For content to really hook your prospects, they need to see it over and over again. Be constant and consistent. Post regularly, share on social media, and get your name and brand out there.

Good examples of banking blog content

Here are some ideas on the type of content your retail audience would find useful:

  • Financial planning and budgeting — Financial planning in everyday life and making sure you’re saving enough. Budgeting for big life events.

• Dealing with loans and overdrafts — Responsibly managing credit and debt, including understanding interest, minimum payments, and credit limits.

• Investing — Ways to invest money including bonds, the stock exchange, index trackers, mutual funds, and other investment products.

• Retirement planning — How to plan for a good retirement including IRAs, 401Ks, and other pension plans.

When you can bring together great content with a good understanding of your audience and share your content in the right way, you’ll start to create momentum. You can capitalize on that, use it to win you new customers, and keep them happy.

If you need help writing your content or want to bounce some more ideas off us – give us a shout – that\’s what we\’re here for![/cs_text][/cs_column][/cs_row][/cs_section][/cs_content]

How to Get New Bank Customers with Beautiful Content like Blogging Read More »